David Bowie's new album 'The Next Day': What the critics said

Critics have universally praised David Bowie's new album The Next Day.

Early reviews of the star's comeback record - his first in ten years - labeled the set as "thought-provoking" and among some of his best work.

Bowie in 'The Stars' music video

Giving the record four out of five, The Guardian said the album is "strange and filled with great songs", adding: "[It] makes you hope it's not a one-off, that his return continues apace."

NME - who rated the album eight out of ten - suggested that rather than a reinvention, Bowie "absorbs his past and moves it on, hungry for more. It demands that you listen to it in this moment, not that you give it an easy ride because this is the man who made 'Heroes'; and its songs more than live up to the demand."

The Telegraph said The Next Day is "both immediately rewarding and mystifyingly opaque. It closes on the ominous, despairing, jazzily introspective 'Heat', with the tremulous refrain "And I tell myself, I don't know who I am."

The Times concluded that it is "a great album" with "a sense of mystery", while Rolling Stone claimed it has "a strong connection to the late-1970s period when Bowie and producer Tony Visconti made their Berlin trilogy of Low, Heroes and Lodger".

Giving the album full marks, Q Magazine compared the LP to "a dam bursting", explaining: "This long album of short songs is packed with evidence that Bowie spend his supposedly indolent decade doing the hardest work of all."

Finally, Digital Spy called the album "an undeniable triumph, and while that might seem obvious now, it was far from a given".

Bowie's The Next Day is officially released on March 11. Watch the music video for his latest track 'The Stars (Are Out Tonight)' below: